08/06 Tom Perez prevented from running for Attorney General of Maryland. The Maryland Supreme Court took Tom Perez's name off the ballot ruling that he did not meet a constitutional requirement that candidates for the job practice law in Maryland for 10 years. In May, Perez received an opinion from the attorney general's office that concluded that his service as a federal prosecutor and deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Justice Department appeared to meet the requirement. A Circuit Court judge agreed in July but the decision was appealed. Tom had run a brilliant campaign, having been endorsed by several key Unions, the Sierra Club, the state Teacher's Union, and unions representing local police officers and sheriff's deputies. The suite was brought by an obscure Republican member of the Montgomery County Board of Education who, according to his critics - says the Baltimore Sun- is conducting a "grudge-driven vendetta" ever since Tom, as President of the Montgomery County Council, tried to get the school board to buy cut-rate pharmaceuticals from Canada"

08/06 Department of Education Cuts Millions to Centers Benefiting Hispanic Students Nationwide. Hispania News August 25, 2006 Washington, DC — LULAC National President Rosa Rosales and LNESC National Chair Roman Palomares are appalled today at having received official notification from the Department of Education that the LULAC National Education Service Centers (LNESC) would not be funded after 33 years of operation. “If these centers are forced to close their doors over 12,000 students will be left behind. We are shocked with the announcement and we are moving quickly to challenge the process, which was clearly unfair to our centers,” said LULAC National President Rosales. “LNESC has a tremendous track record of serving nearly a half a million students,” said LNESC Board Chair Roman Palomares. “This is shocking news to everyone given our great track record over the last 3 decades. We must meet with the Secretary of Education on this important matter and find a positive resolution as soon as possible.” LULAC is asking the community to call their U.S. Representatives and Senators and let them know that these important services for Latino youth are about to dry up. Without these centers, well over 12,000 disadvantaged Latino students will be left without the assistance and the counseling they need to effectively navigate the road from high school to college. “Our community is outraged and we must work with the Secretary and Congress to find a solution to this situation,” President Rosales stated, making the organization’s position quite clear. Saving these centers by any means necessary is the top priority. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide. Founded in 1973 LNESC has served more than half a million Latino students, many of whom have gone on to university and become leaders in their communities. We have recently been informed that the LNESC Talent Search funding had been cut after demonstrating success since they were first funded in 1979.

08/06 Just see here a good example of bigotry, and the fears being spread by the Republicans. This is the racism and bigotry that we have to combat. Last week we saw the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committe do a bigoted ad. Now the National Republican Senatorial Committee led by Liddy Dole has really crossed the line. This blatantly racist ad is what they're doing to their fellow Republicans. We expect our Republican friends to demand the removal of this ad immediately[more]

08/06 Las primarias demócratas del 12 de septiembre
Entre los hispanos que se postulan, los que ya están dentro y quieren ser reelegidos y nuestros amigos que nos ayudan y entienden lo que la comunidad hispana quiere y necesita, los hispanos de Maryland tenemos cada día más y mejor representación. Claro que para conseguir que nuestros amigos y nuestros candidatos lleguen a ocupar los puestos políticos que les permitan ayudarnos, tenemos primero que votar y asegurarnos de que ganan. Varios grupos de la comunidad están tratando de registrar votantes hispanos que vayan luego a las urnas a depositar su voto. Por favor, ayúdenlas en lo que puedan.

Y, acuérdense cuando vayan a las urnas, que nuestros candidatos son: Martin O'Malley/Anthony Brown; Ben Cardin, Peter Beilenson,
Tom Perez, Ana Sol Gutiérrez, Víctor Ramírez, Joceline Peña-Melnik, Will Campos, Carlos Lissane, Chris Mendoza, Alice Mejía, Alex Rodriguez, Peter Franchot y los Jueces Rasin, Themelis y Williams.

Todos ellos va a trabajar para nuestra comunidad y debemos ayudarlos, apoyarlos, y dejarles saber nuestros deseos, ideas y necesidades. También debemos criticarles cuando sus votos y decisiones no tengan las necesidades de nuestra comunidad en mente. Ahora vamos todos a votar por nuestra gente.

WASHINGTON -- A Democratic political ad is under fire from Hispanics who say it unfairly compares Latino immigrants to terrorists.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sponsored a 35-second ad on its Web site that shows footage of two people scaling a border fence mixed with images of Osama Bin Laden and North Korea President Kim Jong Il.

Pedro Celis, chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said in a statement Tuesday that the DSCC should remove the ad because it vilifies illegal Hispanic immigrants and is "appalling."

Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, a Democrat, sent a letter to DSCC Chairman Sen. Charles Schumer of New York asking that the ad be pulled. She said it could alienate Latino voters.

"To liken Latino immigrants to bazooka-toting terrorists not only undermines the positive relationship our party has with this community, but also lowers us to a despicable level as breeders of unfounded fear and hatred," Alvarado wrote.

The ad opens with the words "Security Under Bush and GOP?" It features scenes of a masked man with a bazooka, scenes from terrorist attacks and police inspecting a subway train. It also shows Osama bin Laden, Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a docked ship as it claims "4 times as many terrorist attacks in 2005."

Then comes footage of a person climbing over a corrugated metal border fence and another preparing to climb it as the words "millions more illegal immigrants" form on-screen. In the following scene, viewers see the words "North Korea has quadrupled its nuclear arsenal" with footage of a tank and North Korea President Kim Jong Il.

The ad ends with the words, "Feel safer? Vote for change."

"Equating these undocumented migrants to the very real threats of terrorism is inexcusable and only serves to fan the flames of anti-immigrant sentiment in our country," Celis said in the statement.

The faces of the people climbing over the fence are not clearly visible and there is nothing in the ad confirming the people in the ad are Hispanic. Such scenes are often captured in footage of the U.S.-Mexican border.

Bettina Inclan, the assembly's executive director, said the people in the ad appeared Hispanic, "not just to us, but to other people who saw the video."

DSCC spokesman Phil Singer dismissed the group's criticism as a Republican group "trying to gloss over the White House's abysmal record on security."

"This group's time would be better spent pressuring reluctant Republicans to support comprehensive immigration reform," Singer said in an emailed statement.

Inclan said the group was among supporters of the bipartisan Senate immigration bill, which passed the Senate but has been criticized in the House.

The ad drew rebuke from other Hispanics.

"This is the same kind of fear mongering we condemn in the extreme media and now we are seeing it at the DSCC," said Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza. "It's appalling."

Con ese hábito de menospreciar, la derecha y sus órganos –me refiero a sus escritillas o cojones- aún toman a Zapatero como un cantamañanas que va a sacar de las cunetas los huesos para hacer bolas de bingo en el Valle de los Caídos. Con esa poquedad de casino, la derecha va a terminar convirtiéndose en extraparlamentaria. Tiene razón Zapatero: el PP negoció con ETA, negoció con HB, trasladó rejados, se sentó ante botellas de agua mineral con los de los hierros y no nos puede dar todos los días la barrilla con la traición a los muertos en un país de millones de apiolados y de decenas de amnistías. Sigan ustedes con su ofuscación mientras aquel Luis de provincias ha gateado en la cucaña del Estado y se ha transformado en un líder casi plebiscitario

Su propuesta, un tanto etérea de más libertades civiles -dependencia, parejas de hecho, paridad, feminismo radical- es la única invención de la izquierda desde el 68. En su brumario de fortuna hace casi lo que le da la gana, no se atreve a acelerar el mito de la autodeterminación en el País Vasco aunque está convencido de que sin pistolas en la nuca ocurriría como en Cataluña: retrocedería el independentismo.

A mí, como comprenderán me da igual que gane Zapatero o Rajoy, no espero el Premio de la Crítica, me aburro cuando me invitan a comer los políticos y sería una ofensa que me concedieran la medalla del Trabajo porque mi tarea, como la de los curas, es sermonear media hora y con vino, pero resulta extraño que aquella derecha que hizo la autopsia de un PSOE devorado por la corrupción sea un partido sin alternativa, sin inspiración, mientras Zapatero crece como un trastorno sin perder el espíritu del bizcocho. Ya hubo líderes así, sin estrés, de esos que no inspiraban temor y acabaron decapitando a los que les estorbaban. Lo más sorprendente es que cuando parece que el globo se va a desinflar encima del precipicio te pregunta si sabes jugar al mus. Caminó sobre las aguas sin mancharse los pies cuando la barca del PSOE se hundía.

"Tranquilos, confiad en mí". Así rezaba también DeGaulle no diciendo Jesucristo confío en tí, sino Jesucristo confía en mí. No sé si responderá al retrato del bribón (un rostro moldeado como un pétalo de loto, una voz agradable como el sándalo, un corazón cortante como las tijeras, una excesiva humildad) pero todo el poder está en su liderazgo. Nadie está en la línea de sucesión porque porque no hay número dos, ni número tres, ni número cuatro. Lo dice Manual Sánchez, del que me fío, es uno de los periodistas mejor dotados para entender el zapaterismo. "Ha cortado la cresta a los barones, ha exterminado dulcemente a los disidentes. El PSC come en las manos del PSOE, el guerrismo es cosa del pasado".

La derecha y sus escritillas diguen describiéndolo como un mentecato.

To some extent I agree with your long-running argument that insufficient troops were on the ground to accomplish our goals in Iraq. But, as Losing Faith now understands, the United States could not by itself provide those troops. In the first place, the American public probably would not support the manpower needs. More importantly, as we have seen, America, acting by itself, is too easily vilified, leading to exactly the opposite result intended. If we'd been able to put together a real coalition of countries, with the overwhelming force Colin Powell wanted, we might then have been able to make a difference.  A real coalition may have had to stay for years, but with the vast majority of the world lined up against a single deviant state, our chances at eventually creating the liberal democratic nation we wanted would have been maximized.

But Bush’s missteps have been a disaster. He could not build a coalition in Iraq because unlike the press and the American public, other countries around the world knew that our stated reasons for intervention were nonsense. They knew Iraq was no threat. Now, where there may well be good reasons to intervene in Iran, which is clearly underwriting Hezbollah and others, we have alienated our historical allies, blown our credibility, squandered our resources and set the precedent that individual nations should have the right to define their interests, even if it means invading another country that is no threat. The probability of building the coalition we need now is made practically impossible, and we cannot go it alone. In one of the tragedies of the last fifty years, Bush wasted our chances at real change by swaggering into Iraq with no sense of history.

The American public has got to grow up.  We cannot export our way of life unless we are willing to use overwhelming force and we have the support of a large percentage of the major powers in the world. War is ugly and it involves subjugation of a culture in order to recreate that culture. Noble war is nonsense. It is always savage, but sometimes necessary. If we are unable to build these coalitions, we must show restraint, engage in diplomacy and work with regimes that are not like us. Democracy by itself is no panacea. We are different because we recognize the individual. Without that characteristic, no country, whether it lies in the Middle East, Asia, Africa or anywhere else, will likely practice democracy as we understand it.

Schaefer, Comptroller of the State of Maryland, former Governor and former Mayor of Baltimore continues with his rampant senility to insult people left and right. Now it is Koreans, Hispanics and women. See this Baltimore Sun editorial in 2004 about multiculturalism

As for Schaefer's Here is an editorial from the Baltimore Sun:

The Schaefer legacy?
It is a sad thing to watch the self-destruction of an 84-year-old politician who meant so much to Baltimore for so many years. But the days of excuse-making are long since past. We can no longer dismiss William Donald Schaefer's tirades, his petty, misinformed and often incoherent soliloquies before the Board of Public Works, as merely Schaefer being Schaefer. This is no amusing quirk of personality, no unintended gaffe. This is calculated political theater, and its premeditation makes it all the more pathetic.
In a display that made even his most die-hard supporters cringe, Mr. Schaefer railed against the cost of educating immigrant children and Korean children in particular at this week's board meeting. His ire was provoked by a public school testing program that is financed by federal funds and required by federal law. Afterward, when he was questioned by Sun reporter Jennifer Skalka about why he objects to teaching English to non-English-speaking students, his response was to call her a "sweet little girl." And when asked if he would debate Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens, a fellow Democratic candidate for comptroller, he said he "wouldn't debate her on how to bake a chocolate cake."
What is the purpose of such behavior? To remind voters of his irrational anger toward a McDonald's clerk with poor English language skills he publicly ridiculed two years ago? Or perhaps he thought the electorate had forgotten his videotaped "walk again" remark to a young female state employee, which transformed him into a national laughingstock earlier this year. Surely it is not the behavior of a comptroller who has filed for re-election, not one who wants to retain his office - or a respected legacy.
Polls suggest Mr. Schaefer is vulnerable this fall. He faces credible opponents in the Democratic primary. These bizarre State House episodes, Wednesday's deliberate demeaning of women and immigrants being only the most recent example, go well beyond the pale. People are openly wondering if Mr. Schaefer's health or mental state is sound. It's hard to blame them. What a tragic denouement to a remarkable career of public service. And what a shame that the rest of us must bear witness to it.

7/06 Mike Bloomberg on immigration

Mike Bloomberg, bless his heart, reiterated his stance on the illegal immigration issue at the Philadelphia National Constitution Center hearing, called by Senator Allen Specter, to build support for legislation he co-sponsored that would create a new guest worker program, a path to legal status and increased border security, saying borders should be secured, but that deporting the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country is impractical. He added that the city's economy would "collapse if they were deported." He said illegal immigrants should be given a chance to earn permanent status and that improving the technology behind Social Security cards could help the government keep track of everyone.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/14975946.htm